October 4, 2024

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“I told them, ‘If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.’ So they paid me thirty pieces of silver. Then the Lord said to me, ‘Throw it to the potter—the handsome price at which they valued me!’ So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord. Then I broke my second staff called Union, breaking the family bond between Judah and Israel.” (Zechariah 11.12-14)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

So many competing images are involved in these three verses. If you had heard only these three verses and only in this context, you might be able to see an understandable picture in your mind. It would show Zechariah standing before the faithless flock (the leadership of Israel, Judah and Jerusalem) and making his demand of payment for services rendered. Whatever the payment was, was insufficient to the service rendered and it was thrown down in disgust. With that, the second staff called Union as broken to symbolize the disaffection of all Israel, the dissolution of the union between once united, then reunited, Israel and Judah (the Northern and the Southern Kingdoms, respectively.) All that had been “fought for” is lost. Actually, it was only God who fought for their freedom. This was the word of the prophet which was denied by the giving of “thirty pieces of silver.” Story done, right? Not so fast!

These three verses are not the only ones we have heard which mention some of the key elements used to communicate God’s word and intention for Israel (and for us.) For Christ followers, the jingle of “thirty pieces of silver” ring greatly in our spiritual ears. It was not to a “shepherd,” and definitely not a prophetic one, that we remember being paid thirty pieces of silver. No, in fact, we remember payment for services to be rendered by Judas of Kerioth. He was paid up front by the Chief Priest and the Elders to lead the Temple Guard and the Roman cohort to where Jesus could be found and there arrested. Because of this action we consider Judas Iscariot (one from Kerioth) to be a traitor to the cause of Christ. We shudder to think of this “insider trading” which Judas committed. He had turned against the very “good Shepherd” who had taken him in, given him a great responsibility (being treasurer) and imparted to him a portion of His Spirit as well as the truth of his mission, purpose and desire commanded by God be done on earth. What caused Judas to see this as insufficient to his own cause which he believed Jesus would serve as Messiah or for some other cause which served a divergent purpose remains a mystery. Regardless, Judas was paid thirty pieces of silver. In the world of Israel at that time, thirty pieces of silver represented three things: payment for the services of Temple shepherd or prophet; the value of a slave in Israel (foreign or domestic/indentured) and a “trifling” amount. Taking in all three, we are able to see the worth of service in the eyes of the Temple leadership and the reduction of people to collateral. When Judas saw what the Chief Priest and the Elders of Israel did to Jesus, especially by handing Him over to the Romans, he went to return the money. It was now seen as blood money and of no use to those who had first paid it to 1] a false shepherd, 2] a false prophet, 3] a faithful but useless slave (useless because he was repenting of the wrong he had agreed to do) and 4] a traitor to them and to Jesus. They could not be used for any purpose of the Temple at this point. Strange because they were used for the purpose of the Temple as the Chief Priest and the Elders saw fit. Now they could excuse themselves from being implicated by polluting the treasury of the Temple which was used for the purpose of caring for the widows and orphans. It was forbidden by Law that foreign or “blood” money be including in the treasury. So, they went and purchased and near the “potsherd” gate which opened out to the Valley of Hinnom and bought a lot of ground for the poor to be buried in who had no other means of provision. We will find that Judas went to a similar place and hanged himself on the very ground where centuries before children of Israel were slaughtered and sacrificed to Molech. Again, we are seeing how the unity, the unifying efforts of bringing Israel together, were abandoned and instead of justice there was only judgment as the result.

But there is another scenario which these three verses may bring to the mind of some. And now for some of you, mighty ones of God, it will come for the first time. There was another prophet named Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, who experienced the Potter’s House. In Jeremiah 18-21, you can read of God’s directives to Jeremiah concerning the imagery of both the potter’s house and pottery made there. Of course, pots served many purposes in those days: storage of food, water, valuables, documents and the like. It was not unheard of for the people in Israel to put money and deeds into pots and then bury them for safekeeping. This was especially true in the times of foreign enemies invading the land. In the time of exile, they people might be carried off but “ownership” would remain as long as the pot was not uncovered. When the people returned, if they returned, they need only to dig up the buried treasure and reclaim all that went with it. [There is a sense of this in the prescribed “Year of Jubilee,” but that is another story to be reflected upon at another time; if you will ask.] In Jeremiah we find the prophetic image of God working at the potter’s wheel in His house. The potter is working the clay as it is still pliable. As it takes shape in his hands, Jeremiah can foresee what it will become. However, as a flaw comes to light in the touch and vision of God, the clay is pressed down again. The process resumes. In the corner of the room there are pots that had dried and could no longer be reformed. They were stacked broken and unusable. It is in chapter 19 that Jeremiah is commanded to go to the potter’s house near the Temple (probably one that was use specific for the purposes of the Temple. There he was to purchase a pottery work and take the some of the elders and priests to the Potsherd Gate (which we have mentioned previously.) There Jeremiah was to share the word of God to them concerning His judgment on them because they had become faithless (giving the image of faithfulness on the outside but faithless on the inside) and caused the shed of innocent blood. [You can refer to Jesus’ teaching to the Pharisees about cleaning the inside to match the clean outside of a cup found in Matthew 23. It stands as a centerpoint in Jesus’ teaching during Passover Week between the cleansing of the Temple upon His triumphal entry (Matthew 21) and the “Little Apocalypse” concerning the Last Day.(Matthew 25)] It is after this that serious plots were made against Jeremiah. They are a foreshadowing of the same 600 years later against Jesus.

No matter how much things seem to change they generally stay the same. That is the process of those who operate under their own guise and agenda. But, those who seek first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness shall experience the joy of their salvation and the provision of eternal life which has been promised since the first. What shall we choose, mighty ones of God? Shall we choose the community of humanity and suffer greater unto eternal death? Shall we choose the community of faith and receive the blessings of peace beyond the chaos which leads to eternal life? Woe to those who hear these words and refuses to listen because their heart and ears are closed against the truth which God speaks! That includes those to whom the word is now given as they seek to rule and reign in this nation and in this world upon their own device as false shepherds, false prophets and false flocks.

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, before we were conceived in the womb, You had already formed us in Your love and by Your Spirit brought us into being. Each one of us is blessed with the opportunity of doing right, being good and producing the fruit of the Spirit in order that others be fed the truth of that same love so that the two will become one. It is our soul’s sincere desire to embrace the oneness You have in mind so we would know we are Your people and You are our God. Lead us in that discovery of the truth and the manifestation of that love for us all. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.